Can't Stop The Hack —

Hacked Vita games fixed, replaced on PSN store; hackers undeterred

Hacking group threatens new releases are coming soon.

Remember late last month when Sony removed two PSP games from the Vita's downloadable store to limit the spread of an exploit that allowed homebrew apps on the system? Well those games have been patched and replaced on the store, though the battle to get unsigned code running on the Vita is far from over.

New versions of both Motorstorm: Arctic Edge and Everybody's Tennis were back on the Vita's Playstation Network store as of Wednesday. The reposting follows Sony's release of a new version 1.67 firmware update that patches the exploit, paving the way for existing and new purchasers to redownload the games at their convenience.

While hackers that are already running programs like the Vita Halfbyte Loader through the exploit don't have to update to the new, patched firmware, they won't be able to access certain system features, including the PlayStation Network Store, until they do.

But Sony's protection efforts seem to be amounting to barely a bump in the road for the Vita hacking community. Videos havealready popped up showing homebrew code running on the new 1.67 firmware, purportedly through another downloadable PSP game that has yet to be patched. The community at Wololo.net has vowed to release the details of the new hack to the public soon, and fully expects Sony to repeat history by quickly taking down the targeted game afterward. And we go round and round and round in the circle game.

Kyle Orland
Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in the Washington, DC area. Emailkyle.orland@arstechnica.com//Twitter@KyleOrl

Really I think this is cool because I just don't like closed devices. Gaming systems have always been that way because of the hardware but now it's really become closed in a way that's not healthy for the industry as a whole. They want to own you completely. That is not cool.

While hackers that are already running programs like the Vita Halfbyte Loader through the exploit don't have to update to the new, patched firmware, they won't be able to access certain system features, including the PlayStation Network Store, until they do.

I've always said the best way to counter piracy is to refuse to sell products to potential pirates. After all, if they can't buy your product, then surely that'll dissuade them from acquiring it through other channels, right?

Really I think this is cool because I just don't like closed devices. Gaming systems have always been that way because of the hardware but now it's really become closed in a way that's not healthy for the industry as a whole. They want to own you completely. That is not cool.

Hence why most of my gaming is going over to open platforms, like PCs and smartphones. My portable system is an Android phone with an iControlPad.

Really I think this is cool because I just don't like closed devices. Gaming systems have always been that way because of the hardware but now it's really become closed in a way that's not healthy for the industry as a whole. They want to own you completely. That is not cool.

I really want to pay Sony money for a Vita. But there are games in Korea, Japan, and the US that I want to play, and the Vita only allows one PSN account at a time. And these are games that will NEVER see releases in the other regions. And while $250 for a system that plays all those games makes sense to me, $250 for a system that has access only to games from ONE of those regions doesn't.

Open up the PSN store so that I can PAY YOU MONEY for the games I want, and I'll GIVE YOU MY MONEY, SONY.

Until then, here's to hoping pirates can crack the Vita wide open like the PSP.

Really I think this is cool because I just don't like closed devices. Gaming systems have always been that way because of the hardware but now it's really become closed in a way that's not healthy for the industry as a whole. They want to own you completely. That is not cool.

No one is forcing you to buy a Vita.

Wow he noted a trend that he thought was detrimental to the industry and you jumped on him with some Rand stylee free market fundamentalist rhetoric. The market leads us into horrible counter-productive spirals if left unchecked sometimes, remember when Sony root kitted everyone?

People need to spectate and in some cases legislate to protect technological momentum and protect consumers.

Maybe if it gets opened up it will actually start selling like the PSP. Currently it has a low inherent value, lame generic games, and expensive proprietary peripherals, some necessary to even play it. I was exited about the Vita for a long time, Sony made sure to correct that error.

The games where not patched. If you compare an MD5 hash of the files when purchased before the takedown and when redownloaded after they were put back, the hash values are the same. All that happened was that Sony took the games down, released a firmware update that patched the hole in the PS Vita's PSP emulator, then made it so that users cannot transfer games from PS3/PC or access the PSN store from their Vita without installing firmware upgrade. If one could somehow get the games that were just put back up onto your PS Vita without upgrading the PS Vita's firmware, the exploit would still work. Sony likely doesn't have access to the source code to these games and it would appear that the developers (those that are still around) have not changed the code at all.

One, your assumption that anybody who'd hack their PSV is a pirate is glaring.

Two, most people aren't going to pay $99 per year to distribute freeware (unless it's ad-ridden) and open source software.

Three, knowing Sony, they'll pull PSSuite as soon as somebody finds a hole in it just like they did OtherOS.

People pay the same to develop for iOS and Windows Phone, so I don't see why you're assuming they wouldn't for some other tech. The cost is moot, too, since PS Suite is currently in open beta and, thus, free. Way to assume on your part that Sony will remove this in the future, too.

I don't see how my assumption (which I didn't actually assume, by the way) is any bigger a leap in logic than yours.

Telekenesis wrote:

Maybe if it gets opened up it will actually start selling like the PSP. Currently it has a low inherent value, lame generic games, and expensive proprietary peripherals, some necessary to even play it. I was exited about the Vita for a long time, Sony made sure to correct that error.

Such as what? The memory card? How is that different from myriad other consoles--including Xbox 360--that use proprietary storage solutions?

I would love to know what percentage of customers are actually pirates. It seems like they are annoying 95% of their customers in order to stop the 5% who are actually pirating games. Has Sony ever said how many PS3 owners are pirating games? I just find it hard to believe that the percentage of customers who are nefarious is really that high.

Sony, there is a reason I do not buy your products - TVs, cameras, game systems, I will not consider you for any of them. An Android phone and a rooted Nook Color serve my portable entertainment needs just fine.

One, your assumption that anybody who'd hack their PSV is a pirate is glaring.

Two, most people aren't going to pay $99 per year to distribute freeware (unless it's ad-ridden) and open source software.

Three, knowing Sony, they'll pull PSSuite as soon as somebody finds a hole in it just like they did OtherOS.

People pay the same to develop for iOS and Windows Phone, so I don't see why you're assuming they wouldn't for some other tech. The cost is moot, too, since PS Suite is currently in open beta and, thus, free. Way to assume on your part that Sony will remove this in the future, too.

I don't see how my assumption (which I didn't actually assume, by the way) is any bigger a leap in logic than yours.

PS Suite is in open beta, but you can't distribute with it yet. When they open up distribution, they are charging $99 per year. And no, freeware and open-source developers don't pay that much to Apple; they put their apps on Cydia instead.

As for my assumption on Sony's future removal... well, once bitten, twice shy.

Quote:

Telekenesis wrote:

Maybe if it gets opened up it will actually start selling like the PSP. Currently it has a low inherent value, lame generic games, and expensive proprietary peripherals, some necessary to even play it. I was exited about the Vita for a long time, Sony made sure to correct that error.

Such as what? The memory card? How is that different from myriad other consoles--including Xbox 360--that use proprietary storage solutions?

The XBox 360 hasn't used proprietary memory cards since 2009, at least. It uses regular old USB thumb drives now. The hard drive is still proprietary, and that is indeed very annoying, but that's not as much of a concern since it's generally a one-time purchase.

PS Suite is in open beta, but you can't distribute with it yet. When they open up distribution, they are charging $99 per year. And no, freeware and open-source developers don't pay that much to Apple; they put their apps on Cydia instead.As for my assumption on Sony's future removal... well, once bitten, twice shy.

I see where you're coming from and respect your perspective, but I just don't see Sony--even with its previous blunders--as a malicious company, out to screw its consumers. I don't really see any company, short of clearly-evil ones like Monsanto, in that light.

The root kit and OtherOS fiascoes cost Sony dearly in goodwill, and I don't think Sony is eager to lose even more by repeating old mistakes. Howard Stringer's Sony, maybe, but I don't imagine Kaz Hirai being as bullheaded.

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Such as what? The memory card? How is that different from myriad other consoles--including Xbox 360--that use proprietary storage solutions?

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The XBox 360 hasn't used proprietary memory cards since 2009, at least. It uses regular old USB thumb drives now. The hard drive is still proprietary, and that is indeed very annoying, but that's not as much of a concern since it's generally a one-time purchase.

Yeah, I mean the hard drive, since the PS Vita memory cards more or less serve the same function. You buy it once, and then you won't need to do anything about it for a long time.

Really, though, I just wanted to point out Mr. Orland's blatant and annoying console favoritism in his articles. Halo 4 and HBO GO coming "soon" warrant articles, and yet Amazon Prime Instant Video debuting and actually releasing on a console doesn't? Why not? Because of its choice of partnership? God of War Ascension-a game of equal caliber and hype as Halo--isn't worth a mention? Nor is PS Suite? Come on.

Okay, I really see the comments going all over the place in this post.

Let see if I could sort it out (or fail at it)

1. Closed systems arguement - PSP/PSV are closed system just like all other major electronics these days. We have to crack it open so we can do homebrew and whatever we want with it. We bought the hardware so we should be free to do whatever we want! Viva La Revolucion!

MY REALITY: Almost everyone who wanted to do 'homebrew' are people who just want to run unauthorized, 'free' games without ever paying a dime to anyone. These are people who would just JB PSP, install a CFW, run ISOs and don't know a cent or care about developing/programming. PSP has been cracked wide open for years but we really don't see many useful application do we? Reality dictates that a machine designed specifically for gaming really isn't that suitable for other tasks (PSV with much more interfaces may be different)

2 cents: Stop lying to yourself about open/close system and moral high grounds. I'll have more respect for you if you would just admit you don't want to pay for your games

Fun Fact: PSP are extremely popular in China and if you are familiar with the PSP scene there, you'll know that no one will buy PSP from a store/person if it's not CFW'ed already and able to play ISO. PSV sale are bad in China because Chinese people are accustomed to no paying for games.

2. Regional issues: If we open up PSV, we can play different region games instead of the current system of one machine/card for one account.

MY REALITY: Sony really screwed up on this one. You CAN create different country account to play different games, but the method to switch is effing ridiculous. And paying for games are difficult with PSN card/local credit card. I personally have a PSN Japan account because there are way more selections and some games that never translated but I do want to be able to play English/Chinese version if they are available.

2 cents: If Sony have any hope of 'training' people to buy games through legal channel instead of trying to JB and play ISO, they need to make things easier. When market doesn't supply what people demands, usually a 3rd party comes up with the goods and it may not be the way the company want or desires.

3. Annoying 95% of paying customer because of 5% non-paying customers are bad decision and unfair.

MY REALITY: It would have been true if the 95% or even 80% (from the 8-2 rule) are paying customers. However, the fact is that for PSP, the number probably is on the reverse. We are probably looking at 80% non-paying customers vs 20% paying customers (especially in china, probably one of the largest growing game market right now) The situation is so bad that game developers are openly criticizing the PSP situation and threaten to leave. What's the point of killing the goose for the golden egg? People will just end up with NO GAME in the end.

2 cents: Obviously game devs needs to be paid fairly in order for the business to continue, which brings us to the last point.

4. Sony/Game devs are charging unfair and unrealistic prices on games/PSN and that is evil.

MY REALITY: This is really a business decision more than anything and has nothing to do with hacking your PSV/PSP for running arbitrary codes.

2 cents: Things being expansive is not a justification for not paying for it. Even a kindergartener knows that.

Anyways, with my PSV, I really don't mind paying for the game, just that they are priced quite high. Everything I buy I have to consider for a long time (not to mention it's hard to get JP PSN card here in NA). I also wouldn't mind getting additional useful 3rd party functions through HBL, but the unfortunate fact is that majority of people wouldn't be using HBL for that purpose.

PS Suite is in open beta, but you can't distribute with it yet. When they open up distribution, they are charging $99 per year. And no, freeware and open-source developers don't pay that much to Apple; they put their apps on Cydia instead.As for my assumption on Sony's future removal... well, once bitten, twice shy.

I see where you're coming from and respect your perspective, but I just don't see Sony--even with its previous blunders--as a malicious company, out to screw its consumers. I don't really see any company, short of clearly-evil ones like Monsanto, in that light.

The root kit and OtherOS fiascoes cost Sony dearly in goodwill, and I don't think Sony is eager to lose even more by repeating old mistakes. Howard Stringer's Sony, maybe, but I don't imagine Kaz Hirai being as bullheaded.

You have far more faith in them than I do, then.

Quote:

Quote:

Such as what? The memory card? How is that different from myriad other consoles--including Xbox 360--that use proprietary storage solutions?

Quote:

The XBox 360 hasn't used proprietary memory cards since 2009, at least. It uses regular old USB thumb drives now. The hard drive is still proprietary, and that is indeed very annoying, but that's not as much of a concern since it's generally a one-time purchase.

Yeah, I mean the hard drive, since the PS Vita memory cards more or less serve the same function. You buy it once, and then you won't need to do anything about it for a long time.

But that's not the case with the PS Vita memory card. The largest card available is 32GB, and Sony is selling full Vita games (as well as PSP games) digitally. There is no way you're going to get away without buying multiple cards if you actually buy such things.

Besides which, the pricing on the things is criminal. 32GB for $90? I just bought a 32GB MicroSD card for my phone for $25. MS may mark up their hard drives, but they don't mark them up nearly 300%.

Maybe if it gets opened up it will actually start selling like the PSP. Currently it has a low inherent value, lame generic games....

Why don't you just admit you don't like it, instead of talking crap?.Have you actually played it?, because your opinion is in the minority.

I looked at its released gaming library it's small and 80% of it is mid level generic puzzle sports garbage; generally no original RPG's expect a couple re-releases and upcoming re-releases; all are low rated besides rehashes of already released older games. Up and coming games are an alarming number of ports of already released games as well.

$250 is 1/4th of the way there to a low end Alienware m11x. I happen to have a high end one. My 11 inch netbook plays Skyrim medium-high graphics at 1080P, doesn't have an app store, runs any OS I want it to, any app I want it to, is open to homebrew, looks completely awesome, is allowed in college classrooms, has a full QWERTY keyboard, and its ruling corporation is slightly less meglomaniacally evil than Sony.

But if you feel like you absolutely MUST have a handheld and pay out the butt for it, http://openpandora.org/index.php is handheld, expensive, and European, so you know it's fancy. Holding your pinky out is a requirement for playing it. Homebrew is allowed - but it's Tea only, no beer. Linux is fancy that way.

Why should people who bought games for their PSP have to pay for them all over again on the Vita?

Also Sony's making a profit on the hardware ($160 BoM) and their ridiculously overpriced memory cards ($100 for 32 GB? No thanks). Even pirates who buy the handheld but don't have enough money or are too cheap to buy games contribute to Sony's bottom line.

Really I think this is cool because I just don't like closed devices. Gaming systems have always been that way because of the hardware but now it's really become closed in a way that's not healthy for the industry as a whole. They want to own you completely. That is not cool.

No one is forcing you to buy a Vita.

Wow he noted a trend that he thought was detrimental to the industry and you jumped on him with some Rand stylee free market fundamentalist rhetoric. The market leads us into horrible counter-productive spirals if left unchecked sometimes, remember when Sony root kitted everyone?

People need to spectate and in some cases legislate to protect technological momentum and protect consumers.

Sony seems to have a hard time with learning their lesson about messing with hackers. Apparently the GeoHot incident and resultant pwnage of the entire Playstation Network wasn't enough to deter them from pissing off people they shouldn't be missing with.

Wololo is releasing the name of the game slowly to members on his forum so that users can download the game without causing a massive spike and rush when the actual hack becomes public. Then once those in the community are ready he will release the hack and the name of the game publicly (likely this weekend) so those who are interested can try to get in on it before Sony pulls the plug on that game on monday.

Wololo is doing a good job managing the hack so Sony doesn't pull the plug immediately but it requires people to keep their mouths shut.

Really I think this is cool because I just don't like closed devices. Gaming systems have always been that way because of the hardware but now it's really become closed in a way that's not healthy for the industry as a whole. They want to own you completely. That is not cool.

No one is forcing you to buy a Vita.

Wow he noted a trend that he thought was detrimental to the industry and you jumped on him with some Rand stylee free market fundamentalist rhetoric. The market leads us into horrible counter-productive spirals if left unchecked sometimes, remember when Sony root kitted everyone?

People need to spectate and in some cases legislate to protect technological momentum and protect consumers.

In any case leave your over-simplified comments somewhere else.

Why are people so forgiving of Sony? That rootkit business was one of the worst offenses but I still cite them for (in addition to the rootkit):-Intel CEO bowing to Sony like a neutered dog (offense: white slavery; DRM)-GoW party (offense: animal sacrifice)-PSN network hack (offense: GeoHot lawsuit, PSN network being pwned by a child)-PSP UK advertising (offense: racist)

Overall Sony has earned a 9/10 on the evil scale. I've yet to link them to any murders or genocides so they can't earn the coveted 10/10 spot currently held by BP, Exxon, Shell and Xe (BP joined the ranks on a technicality for planetary destruction, a type of offense I did not include until the Gulf Incident). Keep at it Sony, all you have to do to make me hate you even more is kill somebody.

I'm torn on the PSVita. On the one hand, it seems like a nice device. If I was to get a portable game system, that would likely be it. But I would want to play old emulated games (like MAME on PC) on it. And it would tick me off that Sony has gone through such efforts to defeat that when the system is entirely capable. With that weighing against the purchase, it tips over to "No sale." Forcing proprietary, overpriced memory cards on us for storage is another big (but sadly, expected) strike. I want one, but don't need one, so I can pass.

I have no interest in pirating Vita games, and would have bought some (I remember Ars pointing out a few that were good). So by denying the homebrew, they have stopped me from pirating nothing, but have lost out on real money from the device & game sales.

I buy my console and handheld systems to play games. The PS3 had a second job as a BRD Player, and got a third job when Netflix (and now Amazon Instant Video) started streaming to it. I entertained the idea of putting Yellow Dog on it, even though it wasn't designed to be much of a "PC" type device, and was bummed when they pulled the Install Another OS support (no real big deal; Ubuntu is running just fine right now on my laptop...) Even though Sony really did botch some things up with some really boneheaded decisions, I can see their side of the argument. Our society seems to embrace this selfish notion of entitlement. This notion is often mistaken for "freedom." The idea that "I should be able to do whatever I want with what I want whenever I want." is ridiculous. Making a device do something that it's not meant to do has a sort of geeky appeal. Running a different operating system on a game console seems pretty cool to me. Turning a bunch of the same system into a cheap super computer is also pretty cool (many research labs used the PS3 for exactly that!) Unfortunately we have enough people that refuse to behave themselves. Piracy is a serious issue, and we all have yet to see a good way to deal with it (that doesn't annoy the paying costumer.)

Anyway, I buy my systems to play games. If they do a good job at that (regardless of whether it's Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, or some other company,) I am happy. If the day were to come when one can "hack" their system for fun and do something productive with it, I'll be happier, but that is unlikely since we seem to be surrounded by a bunch of selfish brats.

Why should people who bought games for their PSP have to pay for them all over again on the Vita?

Because they were dumb enough to buy UMDs. Expecting UMD support in the PSP's successor was about as smart as expecting to plug your N64 cartridges into the Dolphin. Anyone buying digital avoided this problem while enjoying faster load times, better battery life, and the knowledge that their purchase was now linked to a persistant account. More than worth the price difference, IMO - and if not, people should have known what they were getting into by buying discs in a weird proprietary format that had failed two years after it launched.

I would love to know what percentage of customers are actually pirates. It seems like they are annoying 95% of their customers in order to stop the 5% who are actually pirating games. Has Sony ever said how many PS3 owners are pirating games? I just find it hard to believe that the percentage of customers who are nefarious is really that high.

Sony will probably never release that kind of data. I'm not sure about the PS3 figures you're looking for, but here's (see link below) something the folks over at Siliconera did to compare piracy on PSP vs. DS, though. I like to use this as a counter-point to people that say piracy on DS is worse and how it hasn't killed that platform. Well, the data collated here suggests those people are wrong [about the DS being worse off than PSP].